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So I bought the Tier VIII Monarch (renamed Thunderer as my personal in-game preference) last night and tried her out in some Co-Op battles and she seems kinda underwhelming compared to the BBQ fest that is the KGV (I kept her in my port). I'm hoping to focus on AP most of the time (and make that playstyle change in KGV as well). I'm inclined to give her a good break-in period before I make any judgement about the ship. When fully upgraded with concealment build like I'm thinking, she shouldn't be too difficult to play with the better concealment of ~11 km. Any thoughts?

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In terms of play style, the Monarch and KGV are going to be very similar. British BB AP is less usable than most as the fusing time on it is very short. At longer ranges, this means that you are going to have a harder time penetrating into battleship citadels, but you will be less likely to over penetrate on cruisers. Monarch is slightly more towards other battleships than the KGV on that, but still functions fairly differently than either the French or German T8s with the same gun caliber, so switching ammo types is the key to getting the most out of her guns. The most helpful change is in the concealment, as it will help you get into a range where you can realistically chose between AP and HE.

TLDR: she's still pretty similar to KGV, but her guns are slightly better. Concealment really helps improve gameplay, though.

The guns on Lion and Conqueror are much better, but Monarch is a good lead up in teaching you how to play British BBs at high tier. Have fun.

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I didn't think Monarch was completely terrible, but you will have to work harder to get good results with her. Her armor is decent and the citadel is hard to hit, but she lacks the super heal that you'd find on Nelson, Lion, and Conqueror. If I recall correctly Monarch has a much lower fire chance than any of those three as well. Additionally she has rather short range guns and you will be constantly outranged by BBs you are matched with. Her concealment does allow you to play a bit more of an ambush style BB; closing and surprising broadside cruisers and BBs. Unfortunately her AP just doesn't have the punch to devastate targets in those situations. Anything angled even a little will require use of HE, or aim for superstructure with AP. Overall she is a rather middling BB with some traits that unfortunately don't synergize well with the result being that you have to play very smart and very well to achieve solid results. I know a lot of people FXP through to get to Lion; I ground it out with Monarch until I was maybe halfway to Lion before getting frustrated and using FXP for the rest. I averaged about 72k damage per game in Monarch but had very few kills; she just lacks punch. If her guns were a little more capable of hurting targets I think she'd be fine.

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Got her yesterday. Not bad, having fun with it so far in stock mode so that's good. Starting off with a new commander rather than bringing in an experienced one, it'll be a while before I reach upgrade time on her, not real powerful but going to enjoy it and that is why I play the game. Concealment will help I just have to learn how to maximize the output of damage with her. So far I like it as much or a little more than the KGV.

A fun line of BBs not the best but fun and well what else can you ask for. I like them better than the other lines except for the U.S., Monty is still my favorite.

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she is a good ships the trick is to remember she has short guns . I have found one needs to aim a little higher to get the kind of hits that count on target . as far as her AP it does just fine . though as others have poited out you will need to change amoe out if the target is angled .

After hearing all the complaints -- I didn't take this ship seriously.

Turned it into a Co-Op hobby project. Stuck a 6 point captain on it, along with the Free semi-premium anniversary camo from last fall.

Ah yes... The humiliation of coming in LAST on your team in a Co-Op battle.... Drink it in.

The Anniversary 'Congratulatory' camo has no XP boost -- so it makes the grind ever more painfully slow. So I started using the USA Cuiser 125% boost and it moved through the lower hull and engine ... quicker.. but still...

Almost through all the lower modules.. Just have the targeting to finish 3K XP on. So it's almost ready for the long grind to the Lion.

Watched a few videos. They tell me IT'S BAD... But to alleviate some of the pain, use concealment, rudder, and 'special' spotter on the Upgrades, and PM on the Cmdr skills.

.....

All their complaints are correct. One needs to switch back and forth between AP/HE to make decent damage numbers. It's pretty hard to citadel, but will really burn when focused.

....

It's tough to kill, but also tough to kill with.

...

Free XP past? Sorry. Not that big a hurry.

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Going back to 381mm guns is so good, never liked the smaller guns on the KGV. She actually does deal out a lot of AP damage. Your reload is faster than your other T8 competition so your DPM is actually very good.

BBs are nothing to be afraid of really, you can tank AP quite well as long as your angled and play smart. All I can say is stay the hell away from HE spamming cruisers or they will eat you up so fast. Cidadelled a few T8 BBs which I could never do in a RN BB apart from Warspite.

If you find yourself focused by cruisers just stop firing and full speed out of there and heal up, your concealment is one of your best assets.

My current build is

PT, EM, SI, CE

AFT (for AA range and Warspite 2nds in lower tiers)

Might put my final points towards FP and AR.

Wanting to get rid of EM because the gun traverse isn't too bad, but it's a shared captain with warspite.

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The Monarch is a very mediocre ship; occasionally it does well but more often than not it will let you down. The guns are just under performing for T8 and unlike much of the RN line, it has relatively poor HE performance. The short range on the guns are a disadvantage and it can struggle against higher tier cruisers even. Just a disappointing, lack luster ship to grind through especially when there are several fine T8 BB's that are much more fun.